Centertown tweaks

One item that has drawn some criticism is at Seventh Street and Washington Avenue, where a corner of the intersection sticks our farther into the road near the railroad crossing.

“This is a very small concern that sticks out more than we want it to,” City Manager Pat McGinnis said. “The standards say that you have to have so much room for pedestrian stacking.”

Because of this requirement — and the fact that the railroad crossing is present — it caused the curb area to jut out into the road more than normal.

“It seemed to make sense on paper,” McGinnis said. “We think that there can be a small-cost correction.”

McGinnis noted that the city plans to soon wrap up the project with the installation of new traffic signals. Any modifications to the intersection of Seventh and Washington will likely be done once the project is completed.

City officials say the rest of the project has received good feedback.

Beaton noted that there has been some concern about the drainage along the road during recent heavy rainfall. She said any drainage trouble was due to capacity issues in the overall storm system instead of design issues on Washington Avenue.

According to McGinnis, there was a lot of history of car crashes in that stretch of Washington Avenue, and the change from four lanes to two drive lanes and one center turn lane has made a positive impact.

Read the complete story in today’s print or e-edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.